Obama, Boehner point fingers as debt talks break down

Talks aimed at staving off debt default in Washington, D.C. have collapsed once again, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach an accord.

House Speaker John A. Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, sent a letter to 240 House Republicans announcing the collapse of talks with the White House, saying President Barack Obama was “simply not serious” about slashing entitlement spending without also introducing huge tax increases, The Washington Post reported.

Obama responded by calling what he put on the table “an extraordinarily fair deal.”

“We’re willing to make the tough cuts and take on the heat — but there’s got to be balance in the process,” Obama said according to White House tweets.

Earlier in the day, officials from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury met to discuss what would happen if the nation does default on its debt, a scenario potentially now just 10 days away with the Aug 2 deadline for a deal fast approaching.

The Treasury says Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke met, along with Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley, to discuss “the implications for the U.S. economy if Congress fails to act.”

The meeting produced a joint statement from the group that offered no details on a contingency plan, but did assert their confidence that a deal would be reached.

Legislators seemed equally unfazed by the looming deadline. With temperature in the capital soaring past 38 degrees, many were leaving well before Obama and Boehner’s exchange confirmed that a day for a deal had not yet come.